It has been organised by Patidar Sanman Samiti.The BJP has been holding a series of meetings and public contact programmes across Surat to make the event a huge success. Some leaders are also holding one-on-one meetings with prominent people of the community. "It is our tradition that whenever any community member achieves something, he or she is honoured. The Patels, as part of this tradition, have decided to felicitate Patel leaders who have taken over as new state party President (Jitubhai Vaghani) and Ministers," Purushottam Rupala, Union Minister of State for Agriculture, said. The two have been speaking openly against the event and alleging that the organisers were holding it under pressure from Amit Shah and the BJP.

Source: Economic Times September 08, 2016 06:33 UTC